Basic Passes

CHEST PASS

The chest pass is named so because the pass originates from the chest.
It is thrown by gripping the ball on the sides with the thumbs directly
behind the ball. When the pass is thrown, the fingers are rotated behind
the ball and the thumbs are turned down. The resulting follow through
has the back of the hands facing one another with the thumbs straight
down. The ball should have a nice backspin.

When throwing a chest pass, the players should strive to throw it to the
receiver's chest level. Passes that go low to high or high to low are
difficult to catch.

BOUNCE PASS

The bounce pass is thrown with the same motion however it is aimed at
the floor. It should be thrown far enough out that the ball bounces
waist high to the receiver. Some say try to throw it 3/4 of the way to
the receiver, and that may be a good reference point to start, but each
player has to experiment how far to throw it so it bounces to the
receiver properly. Putting a proper and consistent backspin on the pass
will make the distance easier to judge.

OVERHEAD PASS

The overhead pass is often used as an outlet pass. Bring the ball
directly above your forehead with both hands on the side of the ball and
follow through. Aim for the teammate's chin. Some coaches advise not
bring the ball behind your head, because it can get stolen and it takes a
split-second longer to throw the pass.

Here are the tips of basic
basketball dribbling. Don't take these lightly. If you get these
perfectly correct in the beginning, you will have a much easier time improving
your dribbling. Learn to walk perfectly before you run. The goal of
these tips is to maintain a stable dribble and wait for opportunities.
They are not aiming for dribbling past the defender yet.

Use your finger tips to
dribble, never the palm

Dribble on the side of
your body, never bounce the ball in front repeatedly

Get used to bouncing the ball
hard off the ground

Lower your body slightly so that
the ball is bouncing rapidly at waist level

Look up
when you are dribbling, not on the ground or on the ball

When switching the ball from one
hand to another, bounce the ball across hard and quick

When changing direction,
shift the momentum of your body towards that direction

Finger tips gives you more
control over the basketball. Dribbling on the side minimizes the
possibility of getting your ball stolen. When situation allows, you
can even use your back to shield the ball from your opponent. This is
called post-up and it is described in the basketball dribbling moves section below.
Bouncing the ball hard off the ground and lowering your body together allows you
to greatly reduce the time the ball is out of your control. Looking up while dribbling gives you the vision of the court and your defender
while you dribble.

Many kids have trouble using their fingers only. If you are one of them, you can try the naugahyde gloves.
It helps create proper dribbling touch by forcing the player to handle
the ball with their fingers rather than the palms. After using a short
while, you will get used to using your wrists and fingers only. You can
get them at Amazon.com. You can choose between Junior size and Senior size.

For advanced players, there
are many things you need to keep in mind. First, dribbling becomes more of a
physical-plus-mental thing, because you need to calculate how much spin and how
hard you are dribbling and where the ball is landing in good hand-eye-leg
coordination. You need to frequently shift your momentum to different
directions to get your defender on his toes while executing a fake and
anticipating how the defender will react to your actions.

When you dribble from one
hand to the other, do not try to deflect the ball away to the other hand, try
absorbing the force instead and you will have a better control. The ability to
add spin the ball gives you greater maneuverability. But if you wait until the
ball rests completely in your hand, you will delay your dribble. So
striking the balance between speed and control is very important. One
of the biggest differences between good ball-handlers and excellent
ball-handlers are their different timings in applying force onto the
basketball.

Also, to be a good
ball-handler, you need to have
good shooting ability, which gives you more room to maneuver the ball
because the defender will have to defend the air too.

Here are some
important things you should bear in mind in advanced basketball dribbling:

Your
vision - It often gives your intentions away and your defender knows it.
However, you can actually use this against the d. Look at the defender
naturally and occasionally scan for open players. Then, look at the
side opposite to your target lane when you are about to burst. The
eye fake is a very powerful weapon.

Your
shoulder - Shake your shoulder and arm towards the side opposite to
your target lane. The shoulder fake is used against defenders that
do not buy the eye fake. Also, when you are dribbling, cling your
shoulder and your upper arm close to your defender's body and as
low as possible so that you can retain your own position.

Your
non-dribbling hand - Without pushing away your defender's hand, try to
position your non-dribbling so that it is in the way of your defender's hand
when your defender attempts a steal.

The
rhythm of the dribble - keep a constant rhythm in your dribble right
until you are about to dribble past your opponent. The change of
rhythm can get your opponent slightly off-balance, also. Use this
to your advantage.

The
hangtime of the ball - After the ball bounces off the floor, the ball
will have some hangtime in the air. You should use this hangtime
well to execute eye and shoulder fakes or delay the following bounce to
freeze yourdefender.

Mastering the fundamentals of basketball dribbling alone cannot
allow you to breeze through defenders. You need basketball dribbling moves
to get your defenders to expose a weak point that you can attack. Here are
the frequently used basketball dribbling moves in contemporary basketball.

Cross-over - A simply a low, quick bounce in front that allows you to quickly switch momentum and direction.

Behind-the-back - You bring the ball behind your back to the side while the basketball bounces up.

Spin Move - A dribbling move in which you rotate your body around your opponent while applying weight on your opponent.

Fake Spin - You can feign a spin move and then get by the opponent without actually performing one.

Stop-n-go - During the process of driving towards the basketball hoop.? The basketball player suddenly puts on the brakes.

Pull-back - A pull-back in basketball dribbling is stepping forward and then dragging the ball backwards.

Post-up Dribble - You are trying to use your bodyweight to bump your defender out of position so that you can score an easy basket.

These moves are just the ingredients. After mastering all
each of these basketball dribbling moves, you should use it in a mix-n-match
manner. For instance, stop-n-go then pull-back to perform a jump shot.
It is not a single move, but a combination of different moves, that beats a
defender to a pulp.